The Long Road Home

Since leaving Edisto Beach on April 13th we covered about 1800 miles in 6 days of driving, stopping for 3 days at a State Park in South Carolina, three Walmarts, a KOA and a Cabelas.

The Walmart in Staunton VA is very popular, it's close to a major snowbird migration route, Interstate 81.

The next morning I counted about 30 units in the lot. Reservations not accepted, come early.

Stopping at Cabela's is always a treat.  They have the most amazing wildlife displays.

This one was in Hudson, Massachusetts, just west of Boston. We had expressly chosen this stop so we could dump our tanks in their RV dump station, a free service they offer to RV'ers, in addition to overnight parking. Well, it turns out their dump station had not been opened yet for the season. Hmmm...  No problem we were on day 4 of a system that can usually carry us for 5+ days. 

But I was saying that stopping at Cabela's is always a treat, so here is that story.
The morning after we arrived at the Cabela's with the closed dump station, around 8:30, nature calls. Not wanting to further stress the Unit's holding tanks, I decided to walk over to the store which had just opened for the day, and check out their sparkling restrooms.
I am greeted at the door by a gentleman dressed in full outdoor gear, Tilley type hat, khaki safari shirt complete with epaulettes, and cargo pants to match.
"What brings you into Cabela's this morning?" he exclaims.
Through a sheepish grin I answer "um...just looking around?"
And he launches into the well rehearsed speech. 
"Have you heard of the Cabela's Club? ...you receive special offers...you get 10 % off purchases...there is no annual fee...."
By now my extraordinary 6th sense has determined that the "Cabela's Club" is actually a credit card.
I'm a Canadian, I interject, I can't get a US credit card.
"Doesn't matter" he says, "just for filling out the application , you will receive a Cabela's hat, a very cool multi-tool pocket knife and an equally nifty waterproof plastic ammo box".
"How long will this take?", I ask the obvious next question.
"Just a couple of minutes" he replies.
So, long story short, I filled out the application, I was immediately declined due to no US address, he handed over the swag, I asked him to hold on to it for a few minutes while I fulfilled a prior commitment, I leave the store with a bounce in my step and an arm load of free merchandise. As I am mounting the steps into the Unit, Darlene says, "What the hell did you buy now?"
True story, I'm not making this stuff up.

Here is a quick pictorial summary of our journey back to the north.

Sesquicentennial State Park, South Carolina. April 14.

Virginia, lots of green. April 16.

West Virginia, some green. April 17

Pennsylavnia, that's right, snow, and no green. April 18.

Cabela's parking lot, Massachusetts. More snow, this was April 19th.

Maine, the lakes are still frozen. April 19

Nova Scotia's Cobequid Pass, only 250 metres in elevation but can be treacherous in winter. April 21

 And....Home at last!

This has been the adventure of a lifetime for us with many more to come, we hope. 8500 miles in a tube and ready to do it again. 

Thanks to all of you who travelled along with us, thanks for your comments, and thanks to those of you who tried to leave comments, but for some unknown reason were unable to.

Cosmo and Tara were beside themselves when they realized we were home again, and although we believe they enjoyed seeing all the new places, they are creatures of habit and for them, there is no place like home. 

And Darlene and I agree.

Hilton Head and Edisto Beach

We spent a couple of nights at a park in Hardeeville SC, just west of Hilton Head. We took a drive into Hilton Head, stopping on the way at Bluffton, where they were having a food festival.

I'm not sure what the kid in the foreground was doing. Photo bomb maybe? Practising his Monty Python silly walk?

We bought a few things there but that was over a week ago and I don’t remember what, but they were delicious.

Hilton Head

Busy busy, busy, crazy traffic, excruciatingly long traffic lights, parking near impossible and condo’s everywhere. I'm sure there’s a beach somewhere but I couldn't find it. Not one of my favourite places, Hilton Head.

On the brighter side, we had lunch in Harbour Town at a place called the Crazy Crab. The best fried clam strips ever. EVER!

I have to talk about golf carts. Golf carts are seen just about everywhere in the southern US. Not just for gated communities any more. They are allowed on secondary roads, on many beaches and in state parks. These are not run out, golf course hand me downs. Most of them are bought new and then customized.  We have seen many RV’s towing a golf cart on a trailer instead of towing a car, to get around.

Here are a few examples

Even South Carolina's finest have them.  I asked him what was required to drive one on the street. He told me all you need is insurance and in some places registration, and a driver's license, of course. I think it’s a great idea.

They’re either electric or very cheap on gas, they solve a lot of traffic congestion and parking problems, and they're just plain fun to drive. Rentals are everywhere. 

Next stop, Edisto Beach State Park. It is located on the Atlantic coast just below Charleston SC. 

This was to be our last chance for “beach time”. We had high hopes since most of our earlier beach destinations had been wet and/or frigid.

After enduring two days of cold ,rain and wind, it finally warmed up into the mid 20’s. The wind was still a bit cool so we set up the beach tent/wind break and had a couple of nice days on the beach.

Here, Darlene had just arrived and wasn't yet convinced of the shelter's effectiveness in turning spring into summer. I was wearing proper summer attire, shorts and a T-shirt. 

This is the camp ground, a few hundred feet from the water.

The beach at Edisto is more "coarse" than most of the others we have visited.

That's not gravel you see, they're sea shells, every kind imaginable. 

Here is a squadron of pelicans doing a fly over of the campground.

We left Edisto 3 days ago. 

Tonight is our last night in Columbia SC (the capital city of SC, who knew) . The weather has been great except for this afternoon when we had thunderstorms and tornado warnings.

My little buddy Cosmo has been a real trooper on this trip. He's not well, going on 16 years but I think he's really happy to be with us. He rarely comes out of the unit except sometimes at night.

We (and the vet) really didn't think he would make it through the 5 month trip, but now I'm pretty sure he'll be on the verandah at home, catching the morning sun in a week or so. He's always first in line at the water dish when we put ice cubes in it.

And he loves a camp fire.

Tomorrow we need to get an oil change. It was supposed to be a 350 mile day but I think we may lose some time with the oil change so who knows where we’ll spend the night. It may be the first of many Walmarts. We have found a few casinos

along our route home so that may be an alternative. 

The Best of Alabama

Hmmmm. 10 days. Sorry about that, I must have dosed off for a while, but I’m back.  And thanks for the weather updates, Looks like  we may need to “chill” a little longer.

We spent a week at Wind Creek State Park in Alabama. They required a week minimum stay in order to get a waterfront campsite. I'm so glad we opted for the waterfront, and the one week wasn't nearly enough.

This may be the nicest state park  we have visited yet. It's the flagship of Alabama's State Parks. The park is situated on Lake Martin, a reservoir which was created  in 1926, by damming  the Tallapoosa River. This created the 41000 acre Lake Martin. In an area which is about 15 miles square, its many bays and inlets give it over 700 miles of shoreline.The lake is home to numerous bass tournaments. Wind Creek State park has a large marina with parking for over 100 trucks/trailers which makes the hosting of large tournaments possible.

It seems that high powered bass boats are the weapon of choice here. Pontoon boats are also popular with the party crowd. Conspicuous by their complete absence are the “Lund” type aluminum fishing boats. We were a novelty in our 6 HP inflatable canoe (which we finally got to use for the first time of the trip). We got a lot of “isn’t that cute” smiles and waves.

Oddly, for a lake this size, there are no seagulls here, but vultures are plentiful. Perhaps too much competition for the gulls.

Lake Martin has numerous small beaches. It reminds me a lot of Lake Temagami in Northern Ontario where we camped when we were kids. Ironically Lake Martin got it’s beaches as a result of hydro electric dams and Lake Temagami lost its beaches to the same activity.

Here is one of the typical beaches. Just add a tent, a sleeping bag , a campfire and a tin of beans. Take me back….

I found myself near one of these beaches just about nap time, maybe 2 in the afternoon. (Darlene was in town picking up a few things). What are ya gonna do...

After my "rest" I loaded the boat with driftwood for our campfire that night...just like we used to do at Lake Temagami.

For the past few days we have been in Milledgeville GA. It is a nice small town with an amazing history. 

Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia, from 1804 until 1868, a period, the end of which included the Civil War

In January 1861, Georgia convention delegates passed the Ordinance of Secession, and on February 4, 1861, the "Republic of Georgia" joined the Confederate States of America. They knew at the time that secession would lead to war.  All of this took place right here in Milledgeville.

In 1864 General Sherman marched through the town with an army of 30,000 and burned most government buildings but left most residences intact. 

In the next few days we'll reach the East Coast. Edisto Beach, near Charleston SC, will be our last beach stop before we switch to "Camp Walmart" mode for the final stretch home.